I left my first view of Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood eager to see it again. There was simply too much to absorb on a single viewing. And while the first viewing was mesmerizing, the second was clarifying. There … Continue reading This week in Film — ONCE UPON A TIME… IN HOLLYWOOD and YESTERDAY
Winner of the audience award at this year’s South by Southwest Film Festival, The Peanut Butter Falcon is a feel-good film wrapped around a Mark Twain yarn. But, the real story is how the movie got made. My interview with … Continue reading This week in Film — THE PEANUT BUTTER FALCON
Documentaries about notable figures are a dime a dozen. The ones that lionize the artists are the most egregious because they distance their work from their humanity. Yes, John Coltrane may have been one of the greatest jazz musicians of … Continue reading This week in Film — TONI MORRISON: THE PIECES I AM
History, by its very nature, is reductive. There’s simply too much to consider, too many players to figure, and too many stories to remember. To the victor go the spoils the saying goes. And when the history of cinema was … Continue reading Sunday Streams — BE NATURAL
Cinematically speaking, this weekend is a welcome relief. A relief from sequels, remakes, and franchise expansion. And while the lion share of attention and ticket sales will no doubt head Quentin Tarantino’s way with Once Upon a Time In… Hollywood, … Continue reading This week in Film — THE FAREWELL
A bad movie is one thing, but a bad remake? Deflating, frustrating, infuriating. So much wasted talent, so much money misspent, and for what? Well, probably hundreds of millions of dollars… At least the 1994 animated classic still exists and … Continue reading The week in Film — THE LION KING
There’s no shortage of musical drama out there these days, but Scottish Wild Rose deserves to be in a class on its own. With an outstanding performance from Jessie Buckley and a couple of catchy earworms — one written by Mary Steenburgen — Wild Rose is one that will stick with you. It’s playing in selected cities, and as David Letterman would say, “I hope to God your city was selected!” Continue reading This week in Film — WILD ROSE
Midsommar is the much-anticipated horror sequel to writer/director Ari Aster’s breakout hit, Hereditary, and with his sophomore effort, Aster swaps a Satanist cult for Swedish pagans but ends up with similarly uneven results. It’s far from a failure, but the movie’s final third left me wanting. Also at Boulder Weekly, the first annual Boulder Environmental/Nature/Outdoor Film Festival takes over the Dairy Arts Center’s Gordon Gamm Theatre July 10–13. I spoke with programmer Richard Paradise about the festival and previewed a few movies here. BoulderENOFF isn’t the only film festival/film series coming to the Front Range in January. On this week’s edition of … Continue reading This week in Film — MIDSOMMAR
I have Varda on the mind. And not just because she passed away earlier this year at the age of 90. Or that I just wrote about one of her best films, Vagabond. Or that the Alamo Drafthouse Sloans Lake’s Femme Club is dedicating their July screenings to the great filmmaker; I have Varda on the mind because few filmmakers have occupied my mental real estate quite like the diminutive Belgian. Her final film, Varda by Agnès, has yet to make it to U.S. theaters, but I still think of her 2106 documentary, Faces Places (Visages Villages) as the perfect swan song. … Continue reading Sunday Streams — FACES PLACES
Her first film, La Pointe Courte debuted in 1955; her final, Varda by Agnès, has yet to make its U.S. release, and in between, the incomparable Agnès Varda re-envisioned what cinema could do and say. She has several masterworks under her belt, none more so than her 1985 story of a drifter, Vagabond. For those in the Denver metropolitan area, Vagabond will screen on Wednesday, July 3, 7:15 p.m. at the Alamo Drafthouse Sloans Lake. For those of you with subscriptions to The Criterion Channel, Vagabond is currently streaming alongside a bevy of Varda features and shorts. And speaking of masters, GKIDS and … Continue reading This week in Film — VAGABOND, Studio Ghibli Fest 2019, and more
